


While the world sleeps under my feet tonight

by Marshmallord



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Blind Character, Chenle is there for a couple pages, Deaf Character, Dreams, I ALMOST FORGOT TO TAG SOULMATES ASKDJALSKJFHSAKD, I was listening to Red Eye by Andy Grammer, M/M, Magic, Stars, and, i'm not quite sure what this is, or are they?, this, who knows - Freeform, yeah - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-22
Updated: 2019-10-22
Packaged: 2020-12-28 08:22:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21133637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marshmallord/pseuds/Marshmallord
Summary: When Yuta closed his eyes that night, he never expected to see a boy dancing among the stars.





	While the world sleeps under my feet tonight

**Author's Note:**

> You can listen to Red Eye by Andy Grammer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eORPypGg8k  
It's such a good song and he's so underrated. I definitely recommend listening to his music! There may be a few songs that you didn't even know were by him that you already love!

When Yuta closed his eyes that night, he never expected to see a boy dancing among the stars. But life always holds surprises, and he opened his eyes to a wide expanse of infinite sky, with a hazy figure moving swiftly through the clouds. Yuta watched, inching closer and making poor attempts at hiding behind clouds as to not disturb the boy. As he drew nearer, eager for a closer look at the boy under the light of the moon and stars, his breath caught in his throat.

The boy was beautiful.

The dancer had smooth, unblemished, pale skin and small, pouty lips forming a small smile, as if he was remembering someone quite dear to him. His eyes were closed, long lashes brushing the boy’s high cheekbones, with straight eyebrows showing whenever he leaped and his soft brown locks bounced. His ears stuck out, just slightly, and his nose was pointed and straight. He wore thin sweatpants and a form-fitting t-shirt, revealing a slim, lean body and a small waist. The dancer was delicate, _entrancing_, and Yuta couldn’t tear his eyes away. 

He must’ve stood there for hours, watching the boy dance to a song only he could hear, before the sky lightened and the sun began to rise. Yuta looked on as the other continued to dance, seemingly unaware of the rising sun that framed his figure. Slowly, the boy began to halt his dance. He began to open his eyes, and Yuta resisted the urge to draw closer and see the boy’s irises, see them filled with all the emotions his dance had brought to Yuta. But as he opened his eyes, the boy was wrapped up in the clouds. Yuta tried to peer through the clouds, but they seemed almost intentionally thick. The clouds dispersed as quickly as they’d come, and the boy was nowhere in sight.

Yuta nearly tripped over himself as he stumbled to the spot where the boy had disappeared, eluding the tendrils of clouds that were trying to return him to his bed, searching for the mysterious dancer. But as the sun rose higher into the sky and his efforts remained fruitless, he gave up and closed his eyes, at last allowing the clouds to envelop him.

He awoke suddenly, touching his cheek and furrowing his eyebrows at the lack of the misty feeling of the clouds. Had it really been a dream? Despite the mystical elements of his experience in the sky, it had felt much too real to simply be a figment of his subconscious. Thoughts about the mysterious boy was still racing in his mind, constantly replaying his magical dance and the utter bliss of his expression. Yuta had never seen anyone quite so eye-catchingly exquisite.

Nevertheless, he did his best to push the boy out of his head and focus on his day. He followed his ordinary routine, but everything seemed to remind him of the boy. The clothing he donned was thin, just as the dancer’s had been. The apple he ate was red, like the boy’s ears, cheeks, and nose, tinted pink from the cold, and sweet as the slight smile that crossed the dancer’s face as he moved. His bathroom was white as the clouds, and the light reflecting off of the tiles sparkled almost as the stars had. When he washed his face, the cool water brought back the feeling of the caress of the clouds as he was swiftly dismissed from the sky. When he fumbled open his desk drawer for his hearing aids, he wondered what the song only the boy could hear sounded like.

Yuta checked the time on his phone before grabbing his backpack and heading to class (but not without checking seven separate times to make sure he had everything he needed, or course). His roommate, Jungwoo, had already left for his part-time job at Kun’s cafe earlier that morning. The other boy always gushed about a loud, rowdy boy who came in every morning for a chocolate muffin.

After Yuta’s Paleoanthropology class, he had a little over half an hour before his next class, Ethnography. Meaning he had a little over half an hour--37 minutes, to be exact--to think about the dancer. Yuta was thoroughly convinced that the boy was real. He remembered it so clearly, and the memory did not fade as a dream would have. The mysterious dancer was absolutely a human being--or something more--that truly existed.

It had been far too long of a day. Days always seemed to stretch on forever for Yuta, but he anticipated the nighttime so much more than usual, hoping, wishing, _praying_ for another glimpse of the boy. He’d zoned out all day, struggling to take notes and stay engaged in conversation. When nightfall came, he took out his hearing aids, grabbed the glass of water by his bedside, quickly swallowed his trazodone, switched off the lights, and collapsed into the small twin bed. His thoughts never strayed from the boy as he drifted off to sleep.

When his eyes opened again, he was back in the sky. He stood warily on the clouds, head whipping around in search of the boy. The clouds were flatter that night, a milky expanse of white flatland, smalls rolls in the clouds reminding Yuta of tilled earth. He still wasn’t quite sure how he could stand on the clouds--his feet disappeared into the top of the cloud, a misty haze clinging to his bare feet. In fact, he wasn’t quite sure if he were standing at all. He felt rather light, so perhaps the cloud did not support him at all. 

Momentarily distracted from thoughts of the boy, he took a few steps along the cloud. It felt almost as if he were standing, yes, but without anything to remain supporting his weight. He paused to look up. Bright stars scattered the sky like sprinkles on a cake, framing the waxing moon, which was nearing its zenith in the sky. A pale bluish light was cast from the celestial bodies, faintly illuminating the night sky. Yuta quietly took in his surroundings, relaxing in the eerie silence. He almost forgot about the dancer.

Almost.

Yuta took in a deep breath and searched around again. He walked along the clouds, waiting hopefully for the boy. He heard wind whistling in his ears, which shocked him. He reached up and touched his ears, but there were no aids. Somehow, the night sky had given him the ability to hear.

Wrapped in his thoughts, he nearly failed to notice the swift movement of the clouds a few paces away. Tendrils of thick mist spiraled together, forming around a lithe body. Yuta quickly dropped to a crouch, praying the boy wouldn’t notice. As the clouds dispersed from around the boy, his raised arms fell. The boy’s eyes were closed, moonlight enhancing his soft features. He stood there for a quiet moment before he began to dance. Yuta was immediately entranced, and he watched the delicate leaps and twirls of the boy’s dance. The dance was smooth and swift, delicate like the boy. The movements came naturally to the boy, as if he had been dancing for much of his life.

Yuta didn’t realize, in his trance, that he had stood. He barely noticed his slow steps toward the boy. It wasn’t until he stood right behind the dancer that he realized he was so close. The boy was still none the wiser.

Yuta considered what he should do. Should he back away, leaving the boy undisturbed? Or should he make himself known, with the possibility of scaring him off? Perhaps against his better judgement, he grabbed the boy’s wrist as his left arm rose into the air.

The boy stilled immediately. Yuta’s mouth ran dry as he searched for what to say. _Sorry? Who are you? How are we here? Are you real? Is this a dream?_

He finally settled on, “Hi.”

The boy flinched and turned around. As he turned, he opened his eyes, those beautiful eyes that Yuta had so dreamed of seeing. To his surprise, his irises were the same shade as the moon.

Was the boy blind?

“Who… who are you?” The boy stammered. It took a moment for Yuta to register what the boy was saying.

“Oh, uh, I-I’m Yuta,” he introduced himself, “who are… you?”

“My name is Sicheng… how are you here?” The boy replied, confusion lacing his voice.

Yuta blinked. “Uh, I’m not sure? I was wondering if you could answer that. Why are you here?”

Sicheng shrugged and gestured upward. “The stars granted me this place. I Wished to see, and my Wish was granted, under the condition that I dance for the stars every night for seventy days. Now I ask again: why are you here?”

Yuta gaped, opening and closing his mouth like a fish. “I’m… not quite sure…”

“Did you Wish?”

“I… maybe? Not directly, but… I’ve always wanted to hear without an aid.”

“Do you hear while you’re in the clouds?”

“Well, yes, but not during the day. I can only hear when I’m here. Why is that?”

Sicheng furrowed his brows, thinking. _Cute_, Yuta’s brain supplied unhelpfully. “Have you given the stars a gift? Mine is that of dance, what is yours?”

Yuta completely blanked. “There’s not really anything I can give the stars… I don’t know why I was even considered for this.”

Sicheng shook his head. “No, the stars would only choose you if there was something you could give them. But they told me directly, are you sure there’s nothing the stars could possibly want of you?”

Just as Yuta was opening his mouth to reply “no”, he felt a tug at his hair. His hand immediately flew to the back of his head, where he caught a small hand. He quickly clutched it and spun around to meet the eyes of a small blond boy, no older than ten, floating behind him.

The boy looked surprised for a moment before washing his shocked look of and replacing it with a smile. “Hi! I’m Chenle,” he greeted, “you must be Yuta.”

“Who… who are you?” Yuta managed.

The young boy simply blinked, unsure of how to answer. “Well, I just told you… I’m Chenle. And I’m really hoping you’re Nakamoto Yuta, otherwise I’m _never_ going to get my wings.”

“Why would you need wings if you can already fly?” Sicheng interceded from behind Yuta. 

Chenle sighed. “The wings are _symbolic_, Sichengie. You dance really well, but you can’t put one and two together? And I thought we’d spent so much quality time together. After all, I’ve given you your sight,” the boy smiled, “and you’ve always danced so wonderfully for me.”

Sicheng’s eyes widened. “Are you…”

“A spirit of the stars, yes.” Chenle finished.

Yuta tightened his grip on Chenle’s wrist, earning a small grunt from the small boy. “So you can tell me why I’m here, right? What do the stars--or what do _you_\--want from me?”

Chenle smiled. “Well, you see, I’ve grown rather attached to Sichengie,” he disappeared from Yuta’s grip in a puff of glittering stardust and reappeared overtop the dancer, “and I thought that I should repay him with more than just his sight. So I may or may not have snuck into Taeil’s database and found his soulmate… who turned out to be you. So I brought you here for Sichengie, as you two are, well, fated.”

Yuta decided not to ask who this “Taeil” was--maybe he was Chenle’s boss or father, or perhaps a god. Instead, he decided to ask, _soulmates actually exist?_ It came out as, “I-uh-we-how… _huh?_”

“Well you’re certainly taking this well,” Chenle giggled, “but seriously, you two are soulmates.”

“How do we… prove that?” Sicheng asked uncertainly.

Another smile from the star spirit. “It’s simple! You just link your pinkies like so-” he hooked his pinky fingers together to demonstrate, “-and then… well, something happens. I’m not quite sure… but it’ll be cool! You two try it, and I’ll give you privacy. May the stars guide you forever!” And just like that, he was gone, replaced with the shimmer of stars. Yuta may have been mistaken, but he could swear a star twinkled particularly bright after the boy’s departure.  
There was a tap on his shoulder and he turned to meet Sicheng’s eyes. He raised his pinky finger.

“Wanna try?”

Yuta nodded, still caught in a stupor. He made no effort to raise his hand, too busy staring at the other’s silvery eyes.

Sicheng sighed and reached for his hand, raising it and sliding his fingers into a fist, one by one, leaving the pinky finger raised. He pinched Yuta’s forearm, bringing him back to reality. He wagged his pinky finger and Yuta nodded, wetting his dry lips as he locked their fingers.

No sooner had their pinkies intertwined did a blinding light burst from their chests. They both flinched, but held tight. Yuta turned to face Sicheng, and saw that the boy’s milky eyes had turned to a glowing jasper. Sicheng turned to face him and gasped.

“Your eyes, they’re-”

“Red?”

“Yes… how did you know?”

“Yours are too.”

Just then, there was a flash of light as all the stars in the sky simultaneously shined brighter than the moon, and the entire sky flashed white, forcing the pair to shut their eyes.

When the light faded, Yuta slowly opened his eyes. Their surroundings had returned to normal. Their pinkies were still intertwined. Sicheng’s eyes were no longer red. A glance down revealed that the clouds were swirling beneath them. Yuta glimpsed at the horizon and was shocked to see the telltale light of dawn painting the sky. 

Had the night passed by so quickly?

“The clouds are moving… we’re going to wake up soon,” Sicheng murmured.

Yuta bit his lip, “When we wake up… how will I find you?” The clouds began to swirl around them.

“I live in Seoul, South Korea. I work at Kun’s cafe. How close are you?” The clouds were getting thicker.

“I live in Gangnam… perhaps we truly are meant to be,” He could hardly see the danger anymore.

“Perhaps.”

“And Sicheng?” He lost sight of the other.

“Yeah?”

“I really hope you’re not a dream.”

“Me too.”

And with that, the clouds enveloped the pair and transported them back to the Earth.

**Author's Note:**

> Taeil is most definitely a god.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed however much time you spent reading this!


End file.
